South Dakota Sucks

Ever heard the saying, "If you aren't outraged, you haven't been paying attention"? I believe I have seen it on a bumper sticker somewhere, but I am not sure of its origins. Either way, it could not be more true than it is in this instance. South Dakota has taken it upon itself and decided that Roe vs. Wade isn't important, and have decided to make abortion illegal in ALL cases, unless it is a danger to the mother's LIFE. This means that, even if it is likely she will develop complications later on in life that could kill her, it doesn't matter because she wasn't in danger AT THAT MOMENT. I just can not fathom living in a world where, as I said in a previous post, crusty old men half way across the country (because you know damn well this is going to the Supreme Court, it is exactly what South Dakota is going for in the first place) can tell me what I can or can not do with my own body. I mentioned in another post I did about this topic that South Dakota is also introducing bills that would allow men who had fathered a child as a result of a rape to SEE THEIR CHILDREN. Are you kidding me? Not only does a woman have to suffer through the trauma of the rape itself, she has to continue to see the man over and over for the rest of her life because the South Dakota courts deem this man worthy enough to be able to visit his children.

Then this brings me to my most "favorite" part of the bill that was introduced: If you are a victim of rape or incest, you can not have an abortion. It doesn't matter how you feel about it, you must have the child. I again can not even begin to understand how South Dakota has the nerve to put something like this in to action. I have always said that I do not know if I could ever have an abortion myself if this were to ever happen to me, but I will be honest, there is a good chance that for the rest of my life, no matter how much I may love my baby, part of me will always resent him or her because he or she is the product of such a violent crime. There's no way I could stand that,and I am sure more than a few residents of South Dakota feel the same way.

Something else that makes me so angry about this is the fact that the South Dakota government decided they were going to completely ignore the current law to further they own personal agenda. I understand that this is the purpose, but don't do something like this to jumpstart a battle to get Roe v. Wade overturned, because they knew full well that the Supreme Court is going to over rule it anyway, and now I think the road ahead is going to be very rocky.

I don't think I have ever been more afraid that Roe v. Wade will be overturned than I am at this time, nor have I ever truly felt helpless before. Tobin talked about it in a previous post also, and has since done a new one, given the new bill South Dakota decided it was powerful enough to put into effect. Teetz also did a post about this, which will give you more information than I probably did - he was actually the one who told me about this last night. I was too angry to post about this then, and I am still pretty upset, I just can't believe it.

I also want to reiterate what I have said before because I know some people won't get it, but, I am not pro-abortion, I am pro-choice. People confuse these all the time as being the same thing and they truly are not. Women need to be able to have that right to choose what we want to do, it should never be up to someone else to choose for us. I have said before, even in this post, I do not know if I could ever have one myself, and the only time I could ever really make that decision at all is in the case where my life/health was in danger, or if I had been raped. I do believe though, that women should be allowed to make that decision for themselves because their bodies belong to them and them only, not lawmakers who think they have more power than they actually should.

I still am angry about this and have probably made tons of typos in my hurry to post this, but I don't care. People need to be aware of what is going on in our country right now because, as Teetz said in his post, this isn't about South Dakota just taking a position against abortion, but against democracy. It is not a state's right to do whatever they want regardless of what federal law says and if SoDak is looking for a fight, I think they certainly found one in me.